Rocky Hill Officials Hear Plans For Police And Fire Departments

DAVID DRURYSpecial to The Courant

Police and fire plans in Rocky Hill may go to voters.

ROCKY HILL – Details of pressing police facility needs and a five-year plan to transform the fire fleet were outlined for town council members, who now will decide whether to seek voter approval to fund the projects, estimated to cost $6.278 million.

Scaife has recommended the police and fire projects be funded through bonding, rather than through the annual capital appropriation, because of the amount of money involved. He has asked for a referendum question on the November ballot, with the financing spread out over 20 years.

Among capital projects in next year's budget, several outlined by Parks and Recreation Director Lisa Zerio would substantially upgrade, or bring improvements to heavily used town recreation fields and facilities.

A $444,000 state grant will fund replacement this summer of the 11-year-old turf at the high school's McVicar Field. Another grant will fund two-thirds of the cost of replacing the high school track the following year. Work on the Challenger Field for disabled children, funded through an $800,000 state appropriation, is scheduled to begin in July at Elm Ridge park. Zerio is looking for $250,000 in local funding for the first installment of an $800,000, two-year plan to replace the 50-year-old outdoor pool and wading pool. Another $50,000 is needed for resurfacing badly deteriorated basketball courts. The courts, although still heavily used, are so deteriorated that they will be shut down until resurfaced next year, she said.

Infrastructure has gotten "overlooked" for years, Mayor Henry Vasel said in a statement after the meeting. "It is important we maintain our town infrastructure and get our arms around it, before the infrastructure gets its arms around us."

Replacing the police dispatch console and radio – which also serves fire and ambulance – will cost $1.9 million, or 78 percent of the police portion of the referendum request. Motorola has indicated it will not supply parts or technical support for the existing 16-year-old system, starting in 2018, Custer said. The referendum would also fund $50,000 for improvements to the ventilation and cooling of the dispatch and server storage area; $145,000 to replace the emergency generator and $340,000 for the renovation of the department's five detention cells. Built in the 1950s, plumbing issues have taken two of the cells out of service. The detention area ''truly looks like it came from the set of Andy Griffith. The only thing missing are the keys for Otis,'' Custer joked.

The share of the referendum to "right-size'' the fire fleet is projected at $3.84 million, after existing ladder trucks and engines are removed from service and sold. The number of major apparatus would be reduced from 10 to six, and additional lower-cost support vehicles added. The makeover would result in no loss of service, safety or efficiency but allow the department to operate with fewer, multifunctional, technologically advanced vehicles, saving money in capital, operational and maintenance costs. Garrahy said

Replacing the current apparatus, would cost $6.25 million, he said. The new, smaller apparatus will require less hose, allowing for the department to reduce its current inventory from 26,000 to 18,000 feet. Fewer next-generation air packs, costing $7,200 apiece, would be needed — 72 to 52 — because the requirement is based on the total number of riding stations on ladders and engines.

Council member Joseph Kochanek, a former fire chief who last month expressed some initial reservations about the "right-sizing'' concept, praised the plan. It "rights a lot of wrongs done in the years'' in how the fleet was put together, allows the town to recoup some of cost by reselling existing apparatus while they still have value, and is a lot less expensive than the alternative. "I think it's a good plan,'' Kochanek concluded.